


Timeline Interwined: Afterlife of the Ampora

by EyePencils



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-01
Updated: 2012-10-01
Packaged: 2017-11-15 10:58:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/526547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EyePencils/pseuds/EyePencils
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cronus wakes up after what he thought was the end of his game. Turns out it was the end of his life. He moves onward, trying to find out what happened, meeting someone he'd never thought he'd meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Timeline Interwined: Afterlife of the Ampora

Cronus woke up, feeling the uncomfortable sensation of a small crab pinching his face. Sea water washed up his legs and soaked his shirt, the uncommonly white tee revealing his young body. His eyes fluttered open, and he fluttered his hair upon awaking, trying to piece together what had happened. Sitting up, he patted himself down to make sure he was okay, making sure to remove some of the sea-plant life off of him. He felt his pockets, thinking about it, and realized there was something missing: He just couldn't remember it. Slime and sand stuck to his wet shirt and skin, and as he brushed off his pants, he noticed how... unharmed he seemed. He remembered a fight, watching as legions of vile creatures rushed towards his friends as they began their Scratch. But he was okay? Maybe this is the beginning? He was told he wouldn't remember, though. How odd.

He awkwardly began to raise himself from the ground, as another question hit him; Where are his friends? Mituna, what happened to him? He remembered hearing him scream. Not really completely in pain, he remembered. It was like that show Meulin used to watch. That one with the yelling men and power levelling. He tried to get into it but couldn't pay attention for long. He used to muse that it was the only show that Meulin could hear now, but Kurloz' silent stare would easily shut him up. His heart began to feel strained as he remembered the two. Where could they have gone?

He began his quick walk down the shoreline, calling out for his friends. No matter how loudly he yelled, he never heard more than the roar of the waves against the pebble-pocked beach. He sprinted, off into the infinity that the shoreline seemed to stretch into, before he unexpectedly found himself back at his home.

"I don't remember it bein' round here..." Cronus thought to himself, as his vast hive loomed above him. It was different, too. It felt like his hive, for sure. The banners flew, and his symbol blazed proudly on the flags that adorned his tall, tall towers. But there was something a bit old about it, as if it were used. Cronus had an eye for the uncanny, and when he looked at his hive... Weird.

Cronus (unknowingly) held in his breath as he pushed open the front doors of his hive, and found himself under a low light in a great hall. A table rested at the end of it, with a grown, armed troll sitting there. He drank deeply from a fine cup, as if he were waiting for Cronus to come home.

"Vwelcome." The accent was strikingly similar to his own, but the voice was much more gruff, more stern. Tired, Latula might muse, but as if she'd let anyone else be let on to that fact.

"Who are you, and vwhat are you doin' in my hivwe?" Cronus replied, as the drip-drip of water in the cavernous home echoed in the distance.

"You knowv, I'vwe vwaited a long time to meet you face to face..." the scary adult grunted, completely ignoring Cronus' questions. "To tell you howv absolutely disappointed I am." Cronus balled his fists and quickly began losing any notion of dignity.

"The hell are you on about? I don't evwen knowv you!" Cronus began to quicken his pace as he got closer to the man, their face obscured by the cold darkness.

"Please, I knowv I'm a bit shortsighted but I can't be this fucking stupid." Cronus and the man finally met, vis-a-vis, and a pair of violet scars glistened in the low light as he finally got a good look of him. A scowl was spread across his face, revealing a set of sharp teeths, dark hairs encircling his shark-grin mouth. He looked handsome, Cronus admitted. Really handsome. But it was in such a windswept and fantastic way, like a man who had weathered many storms. The pirates that Aranea would sometimes dream about and wrote in her personal diary. Cronus was nothing if not invasive.

"Congratulations kiddo. You finished the scratch and got to die along vwith it." He cleared his throat, spitting out what looked like violet brine as Cronus stared confusedly at him. "Blame your leader."

"Vwhat are you-" Cronus began, but he stopped as he looked down at his waist. Didn't a creature nick him something bad?

"Oh, aye. If you're lookin' for yer gash, it's still there. Check underneath."

Cronus lifted his shirt, and hastily put it back down. The blood fled his face and he allowed himself a brief reprieve before he looked back to the violet-blooded troll.

"...Okay. So vwhat's this about being dead?" He asked, and his new acquaintance tutted, putting down his remarkably familiar gun, as if to prepare for a long conversation.

"Aye, yer dead. Died in a blast. Yer leader blewv you all up in some vweird plan." He absentmindedly began to run his fingers through his hair, and Cronus began to remember. Everyone antsy for the scratch, the incoming reset, the enemies all slain, and then...

"Ouch..." Cronus grimaced, as he felt the back of his neck. He was suddenly sore all over. Especially his back. Meenah was behind him, in the center, and everyone...

"Like I said, lad. Yer dead." The lights began to brighten and Cronus got a better look at the man's face. Pale white eyes shone like cue balls outward, and Cronus felt as if his own were just the same. Dead. 

He's dead. Everyone's dead.

"Vwell... Fuck." Cronus whispered hoarsely. Worry began to creep into his face, and the large man launched an eyebrow hairline-bound as he scoffed at Cronus.

"Oh don't be daft. Ye knewv it vwas comin'. Can't trust an empress as far as you could vwoo her, trust me I knowv." Dualscar flicked a ball of dirt off his wrist and sighed. "Dyin' vwasn't yer fault, kid. But there vwas plenty else to make an audience of trolls ashamed. Not that there vwas any."

Cronus furrowed his brow at his ghostly guide. "And vwho are you to be judge of that?" The man's hand moved so swiftly to Cronus' face, he barely had time to get out of the way, even if he was aware. Cronus reeled, the rough hand leaving his cheek beginning to swell slightly.

"I'm you, you vwaste of troll. Or another vwersion of you. They called me Orphaner Dualscar, mighty pirate hunter." The light around Dualscar brightened considerably, allowing his armor and trim to gleam, giving him a heroic, kingly disposition. Cronus was smitten. They can never be too old, as he would often admit.

"Nowv hold on," Cronus began, massaging his cheek as he tried to save (untouched) face. "You tellin' me, I vwould havwe growvn up to become some kind of sexy hero?" Cronus began, his face spreading into a huge stupid grin. Dualscar groaned some more, and began to explain the scratch and what happened.

Everything.

Timelines split and died, collapsing in on themselves to return to their respective Alphas. Universes were created, destroyed, and recreated, and stars and planets went supernova within them, billions of times over, as Dualscar explained the functions of the scratch, what happened with him, leading up to his inevitable demise, a few hundred sweeps later.

Cronus sat and gawked, and when Dualscar finally finished, he was ecstatic. Damn was he sexy. He must have been a beast in the sack. Why would anyone turn him down?

"You see, I vwas a man of many quadrants." Dualscar monologued, as Cronus sat transfixed. "Unlike someone else in this room." Cronus blushed and laughed, but Dualscar showed no signs of humor. He hastily shut up, snapping out of his attentive stupor. It wasn't that surprising; the only person who would ever grab his acute attention was himself, and he figured that it had to be a good sign.

"Well hey vwe could change that up right n-" Cronus began, but Dualscar's hand flung backwards into his other cheek, striking him across the face and sending him reeling once more. His ego bruised under the weight of Dualscar's hand, he burned with a wish to retaliate, without really thinking about it. Wisely, however, he held his tongue.

"Look at ya. Yer a bloody vwise-ass disgrace to our blood." The Orphaner spat. "You chase tail and you flirt so heavwily that its a fuckin' surprise you evwen get the time of night off 'em." Cronus' face blushed furiously as he grinded his teeth together. He was really starting to piss himself off. 

"Vwhat are you talking about, big man? I'm plenty amazing. My songs are beautiful and attract all sorts of trolls to me. I'm a goddamn suffering artist and chicks dig th-" Another ringing slap. "F-Fuck!" Cronus managed to cough.

"Amazing?" he mocked. "Attractive? Women flocki- Do you have any clue how absolutely pathetic you really are? I've followved your life since the bloody beginning and all I see is a trail of stuck up arrogance-ridden failures." The Orphaner threw a punch at Cronus, flooring him as he skidded across the ground. It wasn't as painful as he expected; probably because he was already dead. Cronus scowled deeply at the legend before him, as he looked up at his armored figure. The standard bouquet of feelings bloomed within; the strong desire to hit Dualscar back, the stronger lust to kiss him, and the strongest need of all, to be hit again. He liked it rough; but as he found out over the sweeps, no one else seemed to.

"There's absolutely no vway you're not turned on by this." Cronus muttered as he got back on his feet. "Pushin' around a little kid. Hurtin' his feelings, grindin' them into the ground. You vwant some a' this?" He beckoned to Dualscar. "I'm thinkin' of growving up to be a bootlicker like yo-" Cronus was winded as Dualscar ran into him tackling him and thrusting him into the wall. "Vwhat's the matter, big boy? Am I touchin' on somethin' sensitiwve after all these svweeps? Maybe vwith a mighty pir-" Dualscar headbutted Cronus and dazed the young troll.

"SHUT IT, RUNT! I can break you right here and nowv." He glared into Cronus' arrogant, grinning face, their bodies (un)comfortably close. They began to share their breaths. Cronus' mouth curled into a twisted smile, and he slowly began to speak.

"Mindfa-" he started, but was stifled with a kiss that banged his head against the wall behind him. His lips began to bleed and break as Dualscar bit viciously, their bodies getting closer as Cronus got held up against the wall.

He ripped himself off of Cronus, blood dripping from his mouth as they both panted heavily. "There you go." He grunted, as Cronus' head hung limply. "Satisfied, you horny little bilgerat?" Cronus shakes his head, trying to catch his breath.

"Pfft." Cronus sounded, trying to brush off what just happened. "Vwhy am I evwen botherin' vwith you, eh?" He itched at the spot where his horns protruded from his scalp. "Bloody psychopathic rejects..." he muttered. 

"Be careful vwith language like that, lad." Warned Dualscar, as he approached Cronus again, putting a hand on his neck. "You only meet more of them from here on out." Cronus sneered. Dualscar stared long and hard at his other self, as Cronus stared at his feet with anger and disgust. "Rejects, just like you."

The tension was too much for him. The need was starting to win over common sense. Dualscar could break him, he really could. There would be no reason for him to hold back. There was no saving Cronus once he got started. Every painful, depraved act, every lash out, every second with Dualscar becoming a fight for his next breath. He was dead, but could he die again? Reason began to fade. At long last, he turned his head upwards, to meet Dualscar's gaze. Cronus spat some of his blood at Dualscar's face. "Hurt me."

Dualscar grinned. "Gladly."


End file.
